Close-knit Davison girls basketball team has 'makings of something special'

Davison senior point guard Kolbie Brow is part of an all-senior starting lineup that has high expectations for their final season. (Lauren Justice | MLive.com)

Davison senior Mariah Ferris (left) sets up a play during a recent practice at Davison High School. She is the Cardinals' leading scorer. (Lauren Justice | MLive.com)

Davison girls basketball coach Dick MacLachlan took the job late this offseason after retiring as the Cardinals' boys coach in 2009. (Lauren Justice | MLive.com)

DAVISON, MI -- Familiarity helped the Davison girls basketball team make up for lost time, and now the Cardinals are owners of a seven-game win streak and an unbeaten record in conference play.

Davison (7-2, 5-0 Saginaw Valley League South) has emerged under the leadership of an all-senior starting lineup and the return of coach Dick MacLachlan, who last coached the Davison boys team in 2009. Adding to the early enthusiasm in the Davison gym is that the Cardinals are still getting better at what is essentially the halfway point of the season.

“Because of the circumstances, we were not afforded the advantage of a summer season to get things off the ground,” said MacLachlan, who took the job late in the offseason after previous coach T.J. Fischaber stepped down. “The early part of this season, maybe even the entire 2012 portion of our schedule, was in many ways devoted to making up for lost time. The girls' experience and enthusiasm really accelerated their growth as a team.”

At the center of Davison’s transition is senior point guard Kolbie Brow, who has excelled in distributing the ball in MacLachlan’s new offense and also brings a scrappy pedal-to-the-metal intensity to each end of the floor.

Brow is one of the best passers in Genesee County with an average of 7.6 assists per game and is Davison’s second-leading scorer with a nightly average of 11.2 points.

“She also leads the team in deflections and is second in charges taken,” added MacLachlan. “And those are important stats for us because they are crucial to the style and tempo we play with.”

Brow’s job is admittedly made easier by the teammates around her. She’s one of three captains, along with seniors Mariah Ferris and Morgan Hitchcock, and also has two senior post players in Theresa Dray and Wayne State University-bound Tori Bellamy.

“You just know that whoever you give the ball to they’re probably going to do something good and that’s a lot of fun to play that way,” Brow said. “There’s no frustration of trying to do too much or not having girls who can score and things like that. I’m comfortable with everyone that if I get them the ball, they’re going to know what to do.”

Ferris is Davison’s leading scorer with an average of 13.7 per game and also the Cardinals’ second leading rebounder, despite playing more of a perimeter role.

“Between the two of them (Brow and Ferris) they’re probably No. 1 and No. 2 in most statistical categories but we’ve got nine girls on this team and all of them contribute,” MacLachlan said. “The fact is that this is a team of really strong individuals and when you combine them you have the makings of something special.”

Davison’s individual talent blossoms in large part due to the Cardinals’ collective chemistry.

“We’ve played together ever since we were little, so that has helped a lot,” Ferris said. “We all get along, too, and there are just nine of us on the team so we’ve become really close. I think it’s felt like we’ve had good potential for a couple years and now everything is starting to come together.”

“Everybody is comfortable with the offense now and I feel like the chemistry is there and we’re all really comfortable with each other,” Brow added. “It’s a different style this year, actually different in a lot of ways, but it’s a good different.”

Davison lost its first two games of the season but has since played more like the team that won a district championship last year. Perhaps even better.

“We do have a lot of talent and are pretty balanced as a team, but it’s hard to quantify the characteristics like toughness, competitiveness, effort and heart,” MacLachlan said. “This team has a lot of all that.”

Those characteristics have made MacLachlan’s return to coaching an enjoyable one and his job easier.

“I didn’t seek this out and didn’t see it coming, but it was an opportunity that was presented to me and in a lot of ways I’m just along for the ride,” he said. “As a coach, this whole experience has just been uplifting. There’s not one complainer in the bunch and they’re all hard workers and work well together. To come to practice with that every day, I can’t ask for much more.

“When you’ve got that type of internal leadership and the cohesiveness that this team plays with, a lot of things are possible.”